Infinity Power, Germany’s Conjuncta team up on mega hydrogen plant in Mauritania
Big news from Mauritania: A global consortium comprising our friends at Infinity Power Holding — a JV between Egypt’s Infinity and UAE’s Masdar — and Germany’s Conjuncta have signed an MoU with Mauritania to build up a mega green hydrogen plant in the West African country, according to a joint press release (pdf).
The details: The plant — located near the northeast of capital Nouakchott — will produce up to 8 mn tons of green hydrogen or its equivalent in other hydrogen-based end products annually, and have an electrolyzer capacity of up to 10 GW. The project will be implemented over four phases, with the first phase of the plant set to be operational by 2028 with a potential capacity of 400 MW.
Exports in the pipeline: The renewable fuels produced will be used for export, according to the statement, although the destinations have not been disclosed. Conjuncta CEO Stefan Liebing says Germany could be “a potential offtaker of green energy,” the statement notes.
What they said: “This green hydrogen plant … will provide not only the North-West but the entire continent of Africa with a clean, renewable energy source that will in turn foster a cleaner, greener future for us all,” Infinity Power Chairman Mohamed Ismail Mansour said. Liebing said the project was “by far the largest bilateral investment project ever.”
Germany’s on the hunt to replace Russian energy flows: Germany has been trying to boost its renewables potential to make up for the energy crunch on the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Masdar and Australian utilities company Verbund inked an agreement last month on green hydrogen, with Southern Germany among several regions set to receive green fuel exports.
And it’s not the only one in place: The agreement with Verbund follows another with Germany’s Uniper to develop a green hydrogen plant in the UAE powered by 1.3 GW of solar energy. The plant is expected to generate green hydrogen by 2026 and the EU wants to import the clean fuel the facility will generate. Germany recently announced it will join a planned green hydrogen pipeline partnership with France, Spain and Portugal in a bid to make up for the loss of Russian fuel imports.
Infinity has also been active on green hydrogen in Egypt: Infinity Power announced during COP27 last year it will build two green hydrogen production plants — one in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone and the other on the Mediterranean — as part of a consortium including Egypt’s Hassan Allam Utilities and UAE’s Masdar. The plants will produce up to 480k tons of green hydrogen a year, with the SCZone facility due to come online in 2026. They have an electrolyzer capacity of 2 GW, with a target to extend it to up to 4 GW by 2030 to produce green ammonia for export with capacity to supply to local industries.